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Fifthly, A Fifth thing conducive to the happiness of the outward Man is Honour and Reputation, a Blessing highly to be valued, and much to be pre∣ferred before Riches or Pleasures, or even Life it self. Prov. 22.1. A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than Silver and Gold. Eccles. 7.1. A good name is better than precious ointment. It is a Proverb among the Vulgar, Take away my good name, and
take away my life: Intimating, that it is as dear to them as their Lives. Much more then will a generous person chuse rather to die, than to do any unworthy thing, that may expose him to infamy, or blast his Reputation. And because it is a thing of so great excellency, therefore we do pay it as the best service we can do, and return we can make to God and his Deputies, Magistrates and Parents. Honour is a good thing, whereby we not only reap many advantages while we live, but that doth also survive us, and abide after us when we are gone out of the World, Psal. 112 6. The Righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. There is in man a natural desire to have a good Name perpetuated, and mentioned with honour when he is dead and gone; which (as a learned * 1.1 Prelate saith) is a sign that there is in Human Nature some pre∣sage of a Life after Death, in which they hope, among other Rewards of well do∣ing, to meet with this also, to be well spoken of to Posterity.* 1.2 And another: Man among many tokens of immortali∣ty, hath by secret instinct a natural desire to be thought of and spoken of in after∣times. Honour is a great spur and en∣couragement to Vertuous Actions: Eve∣ry man (saith the forementioned Author)
that hath any spark of generosity in him, is desirous of fame; and though men care not how soon it comes, yet they will be glad to have it after Death, ra∣ther than not at all. And (Bishop Wil∣kins saith) The more wise and vertuous any man is, the more care will he take to transmit a grateful Memory of himself to future times, that he be well spoken of, that his Name may be as a precious Oint∣ment, leaving a Perfume behind it; that men may rise up at the mention of it, and call him blessed. Nor (saith he) can a∣ny man despise Honour; but he that doth either despair of it, or resolve against do∣ing any thing that may deserve it. And certainly (saith the Arch-Bishop) he that hath no regard to his Fame, is lost to all purposes of vertue and goodness. When a man is once come to this, not to care what others say of him; the next step is to have no care what he himself does. Quod Conscientia est apud Deum, id fama est apud homine••: What conscience is in respect of God, that fame is in respect of men. Next to a good Conscience, a clear Re∣putation ought to be to every man the dearest thing in the world.
You'll say, What is Honour?
It is very well defined by the * 1.3 Bishop of Chester, often mentioned, to be, The
esteem and good opinion men have con∣cerning the person or actions of another, together with such external Expressions of respect as are suitable thereunto.
Now this so valuable a good is the pe∣culiar reward of vertue and piety, 1 Sam. 2.30. Them that honour me, I will honour, and them that despise me, shall be lightly esteemed, Prov. 4.8, 9. Solomon saith of Wisdom, that is▪ the fear of God, Exalt her, and she shall promote thee, and bring thee to honour. She shall give to thy head an ornament of grace, and a crown of glory, Prov. 10.7. The memory of the just is bles∣sed, but the name of the wicked shall rot, Prov. 3.35. The wise shall inherit glory. But shame shall be the promotion of f••ols. Pi∣ety and Vertue command a respect from all sorts of men. Good men hold them∣selves obliged to give it, by the Command of God, and the excellency of the thing, it being a gift of God; and wicked men though they may deny that outward re∣spect that is due to good and righteous persons; yet even these cannot but have an inward veneration for Goodness and Religion. It is very remarkable, that even the rude and licentious Vulgar at Rome had such a reverence of the Person of Cato, that though such lewdness was permitted by the Law in the Festival of
Flora, yet so long as he was present in the Theatre, they could not go on with their obscene sports, nor have the confi∣dence to demand those: Florales joci nu∣dandarum meretricum, as Seneca calls them. The wicked indeed hate the righ∣teous, because his life is a reproof to them, and gives them some check in their vici∣ous courses, taking from them their great excuse of the impossibility of God's Com∣mandments; and demonstrating, that through the assistance of Divine Grace, which is always granted to them who do what in them lies, and pray for it; it is possible to obey them to such a degree as will be accepted by God: Wicked men though they hate vertue in the Subject, yet simply and abstractly they acknow∣ledge it to be good; though in their pra∣ctice they prefer Vice before Vertue; yet never any arrived to that degree of sot∣tishness, as to say, it was better than Ver∣tue: For example; better to be a glutton, and a drunkard than a temperate person: to cheat and defraud, than to be just and righteous in our dealings: And therefore, though they hate and persecute men for being religious, yet they disguise the Sub∣ject of their hatred, pretending it to be Hypocrisie, Heresie, Superstition, or the like, that they hate them for. Whence
it appears, that they are self-condemned persons. Seneca in his Fourth Book, De Beneficiis, cap. 17. hath much to this purpose, Adeò gratiosa est virtus (saith he) ut insitum etiam malis sit probare meliora: Virtue is so gracious, that it is naturally ingrafted even in bad men to approve that which is good. And again, Nec quisquam tantum à naturali lege descivit & hominem exuit, ut animi causâ malus sit. Neither hath any man so far degenerated from the natural Law, and put off man, as to be wicked for his minds sake, or only because it is his pleasure to be so. And again, Maximum hoc habemus à natura meritum, quod virtus in omnium animos lumen suum permittit, etiam qui non sequuntur, illum vident: Nature hath herein deserved exceeding well of us, That Vertue sends its light into all mens minds, even they that do not follow it, yet see it.
Against what is generally said, That there is nothing truly honourable but Vertue, it may be objected, that Learning and Knowledge is honourable, and yet it is not always accompanied with Vertue, there being some learned men vicious, as St. Augustin also supposes in that Saying, Quid prodest esse peritum & periturum? I answer, That the acquisition of Learn∣ing
and Knowledge is by something ver∣tuous and commendable, viz. Labour and Industry in a Calling; nay, Know∣ledge it self being that which all men na∣turally desire, and being some participa∣tion of a Divine Perfection, viz. Omni∣science; and being that which distin∣guishes us from, and advances us above brute Beasts, and makes us capable of vertue and happiness, a higher degree of it, exalting our Faculities, enabling us to act in a larger Sphere, and to do more good, must be acknowledged to be an ex∣cellent quality, and to merit some honour and respect; and all men generally think so, and give it accordingly.
That it doth so, appears further from the contrary, that is, Ignorance and Folly, which is among all men very dis∣honourable, and reproachful; insomuch, that men abhor nothing more than the imputation of Folly; esteeming it a grea∣ter disgrace to be accounted Fools, than to be accounted vicious; though indeed wicked men be the greatest Fools and on the contrary, godly men the only wise men.
Here I cannot but wonder, that there should be such an unsatiable thirst after Honour, implanted in the nature of man: Why men should be so jealous of losing
the reputation of any new Invention; so troubled and disturbed at having any of their Observations or Discoveries, though by themselves communicated to others, published without an honourable menti∣on of them; so netled at the discovery of any mistake in their Writings, though but Gramatical; and being upbraided with it, why they should be willing to accept of false honour and undue praises: Why they should think it a great matter to be praised by ignorant persons, and incompetent Judges for such Abilities and Gifts, as they are not conscious to themselves of; Doth praise add any thing to them of real good besides conceit?
I cannot conceive any other reason than what I intimated before, that it might be a powerful spur to incite them to the practice and exercise of religious and vertuous Actions; If it be objected that men are as jealous of their Reputati∣on in point of Knowledge, as they are in point of Vertue; I answer, It is an error, and a fault, and they ought not to be so; though for the reasons before alledged, I deny not Knowledge to be an excellent quality, which enlarges and ad∣vances the Understanding, and renders a man capable of greater Employ∣ments, and doing more good than
others of inferior Abilities and improve∣ments.
And further, that it is not Vertue alone to which Honour is due; as appears in that we are commanded to honour Parents, Magistrates, Ministers in general, as such, without any restriction or exception of those that are vicious. It is enough that they have an Authority derived from God, and a kind of Divine Impress and Character upon them, to make them venerable.
A B••. Til∣lotson.
Bishop Lo••d.
D••. Wil∣kins.